Rendering avatar details

ABSTRACT

The rendering of avatars in a virtual universe is selectively controlled by the avatar owner. Avatar ranking by several criteria, operating either jointly or independently, is employed to control avatar rendering in ways intended to reduce computational loading while not significantly impacting the virtual universe experience.

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

The present invention relates in general to virtual world programapplications and more particularly, to methods and systems forcontrolling the rendering of avatars or other elements employed in theseapplications.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

A Virtual Universe (VU) is a computer-based simulated environmentintended for its residents to traverse, inhabit, and interact throughthe use of avatars. Many VUs are represented using 3-D graphics andlandscapes, and are populated by many thousands of users, known as“residents.” Other terms for VUs include metaverses and “3D Internet.”Often, the VU resembles the real world such as in terms of physics,houses, and landscapes. Example VUs include: Second Life®, EntropiaUniverse®, The Sims Online™, There™, as well as massively multiplayeronline games such as EverQuest®, Ultima Online™, Lineage™ or World ofWarcraft®.

It should not be assumed that the utility of virtual worlds is limitedto game playing, although that is certainly seen to be useful andvaluable insofar as it has become a real economic reality with realdollars being exchanged. However, the usefulness of virtual worlds alsoincludes the opportunity to run corporate conferences and seminars. Itis also used to conduct virtual world classroom sessions. Governmentaland instructional opportunities abound in the virtual world.Accordingly, it should be fully appreciated that the term “virtual” asapplied to this technology does not in any way make it less real or lessvaluable than the “real” world. It is really an extension of currentreality. Moreover, it is an extension that greatly facilitates humancommunication and interaction in a non-face-to-face fashion.

The prevalence of virtual world residence is demonstrated by themillions of accounts that have been registered with Second Life®.Virtual worlds are typically divided into areas of land (referred to asregions in Second Life® terminology). To account for the activity ofSecond Life® residents, many servers are employed to keep up with thegrowing user base. As activity on virtual items continues to grow, theclient software will be required to render more and more graphicalcontent at increasingly higher resolutions. In the current art, thisgraphical content is rendered in its entirety. Granular control does notexist over which avatars to render. It is noted that, as used herein,the term “resolution” refers to several avatar aspects ranging from thenumber of facets used to represent an avatar, to color and spatialresolution of textures mapped to the avatar body, to the granularity ofthe motion of avatar body parts, et cetera.

Second Life® and other on-line virtual environments present a tremendousnew outlet for both structured and unstructured virtual collaboration,gaming and exploration, as well as real-life simulations in virtualspaces. These activities, along with yet to be disclosed new dimensions,in turn provide a wide open arena for creative and new marketing methodsand mechanisms.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The shortcomings of the prior art are overcome and additional advantagesare provided through the construction and use of systems to reducecomputational load on client VU systems when rendering complex VUscenes, through user (that is, manual) and automatic selection of theplacement of graphical emphasis. Automatic selection is influenced bydetection of avatar interactions, similar inventories, in-progresstransactions, and company hierarchy. Here, “company” is used in thesense of which avatars are present in the same company of employmentwith the user's avatar.

The present invention enables virtual-universe clients to have granular(and selective) control during avatar rendering. There are two primarycomponents or aspects to the present invention. These two componentsalong with their subcomponents are described herein. The first componentdescribes an avatar rendering ranking system having both manually andautomated methods. The second component describes a system to reducecomputational load created by a virtual universe client. The loadreduction component describes several methods and modifications to a VUthat result in reduced computational load.

In accordance with the present invention, there is provided a method forrendering avatars in a virtual universe environment by capturing userranking with respect to various avatars and by dynamically renderingthese avatars in accordance with this ranking.

Presently, methods do not exist to enable residents to reduce clientcomputational load by ranking avatars, either manually or automatically.In accordance with the present invention, client computational load isreduced by either eliding, or reducing the rendering quality of avatarsbased on rankings.

Additional features and advantages are realized through the techniquesof the present invention. Other embodiments and aspects of the inventionare described in detail herein and are considered a part of the claimedinvention. Furthermore, any of the components of the present inventioncan be deployed, managed, serviced, etc. by a service provider whooffers to provide a mechanism for users of VU applications toselectively control the rendering of avatars and other aspects of the VUenvironment.

The shortcomings of the prior art are overcome and additional advantagesare provided through the provision of a computer program product forrendering avatars in a virtual universe environment. The computerprogram product comprises a storage medium readable by a processingcircuit and storing instructions for execution by a computer forperforming a method.

Additional features and advantages are realized through the techniquesof the present invention. Other embodiments and aspects of the inventionare described in detail herein and are considered a part of the claimedinvention. Methods and systems relating to one or more aspects of thepresent invention are also described and claimed herein. Furthermore,services relating to one or more aspects of the present invention arealso described and may be claimed herein.

The recitation herein of desirable objects which are met by variousembodiments of the present invention is not meant to imply or suggestthat any or all of these objects are present as essential features,either individually or collectively, in the most general embodiment ofthe present invention or in any of its more specific embodiments.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The subject matter which is regarded as the invention is particularlypointed out and distinctly claimed in the concluding portion of thespecification. The invention, however, both as to organization andmethod of practice, together with the further objects and advantagesthereof, may best be understood by reference to the followingdescription taken in connection with the accompanying drawings in which:

FIG. 1 is a block diagram illustrating the structural components of thepresent invention;

FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing the basic steps carried out in thepractice of the present invention;

FIG. 3 is a block diagram illustrating a system which an end usertypically employs to use the present invention; and

FIG. 4 illustrates one form of machine readable medium, a CD-ROM, onwhich program instructions for carrying out the steps of the presentinvention are provided.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

In order to better understand the present invention and the advantagesthat it produces, it is useful to provide descriptions of some of the VUconcepts and terms that are encountered. The list below is exemplary andis not intended to be all inclusive.

-   -   (1) An avatar is a graphical representation a user selects that        other users can see, often taking the form of a cartoon-like        human but with increasing desire to render the depiction in more        realistic fashion.    -   (2) An agent is the user's account, upon which the user can        build an avatar, and which is tied to the inventory of assets a        user owns.    -   (3) A region is a virtual area of land within the VU.    -   (4) Assets, avatars, the environment, and anything visual        consists of UUIDs (unique identifiers ) tied to geometric data        (distributed to users as textual coordinates), textures        (distributed to users as graphics files such as JPEG2000 files),        and effects data (rendered by the user's client according to the        user's preferences and user's device capabilities).

Note too that, throughout this disclosure, for clarity of presentationonly, reference is made to an individual or avatar, which is a digitalrepresentative of the individual. However, it should be noted that thisterm not only applies to an individual, but to any computerizedprocesses that may execute on behalf of the individual, using the samecredentials and capabilities of the individual that owns/controls theprocess. In general, this embodies many forms, such as prescheduled,automatically running maintenance processes, system level processes(owned by the system administrator), etc. In all cases, this process istreated like an avatar, with the same inputs and outputs, regardless ofwhether the credentials come directly from an individual or from acomputerized process acting in his or her stead.

FIG. 1 illustrates the basic structure of the present invention. Inparticular, server 100 is seen as providing support for virtualenvironment 130 which for practical limitations illustrates the presenceof three avatars, one of which represents the current user owner. Forpurposes of understanding the present invention, it is best to considerthe center figure as representing the user's avatar. The other figureswill have their own UUID's, contexts and levels (not shown for reasonsof clarity). Server 100 provides virtual environment 130 within virtualaddress space 110 which is allocated to the subject user. The subjectuser 105 acts through agent 112. Agent 112 has access to inventorydatabase 114 which, among other things, includes a list of objects andproperties for those objects owned by the user within the virtualenvironment. Address space 110 is associated with the subject userthrough avatar UUID 116. Address space 110 also includes avatar renderer120. In accordance with the present invention, it is noted that avatarrenderer 120 is not only provided with avatar UUID 116, but also withcontext and level information, 118 and 122 respectively, as describedmore particularly below.

As indicated above, there are two aspects of the present invention:avatar rendering and computational load reduction. The first of thesecomponents to be considered is avatar rendering. Furthermore, twodistinct methods of determining avatar rendering importance aredescribed: manual and automated. Both of these methods enable the clientto reduce its computational load when rendering virtual universeregions.

Often, interactions between users within a VU are restricted to a smallnumber of users. For example, avatar A is attending a virtual concertwith avatar B. Both avatar A and B are friends. Avatar C is alsoattending the virtual concert. However, avatar C is not interested inwhat clothing avatar A and B are wearing, but only interested in his ownfriend, avatar D as well as the concert band. While the clothing ofavatar A and B are not of interest to avatar C, in current art, the VUclient renders all interactions which thus increases the computationalload placed on the VU client.

In current art, methods do not exist for the convenient and selectivereduction of computational load by modifying the renderingcharacteristics of avatars within a virtual universe. Nor do (manual orautomatic) methods exist to select which avatar's renderingcharacteristics to modify. Previously unknown methods for the renderingor ranking of avatars include: avatar interaction based rankings,inventory similarity based rankings, detection of in progress businessinteractions and company hierarchy based rankings.

Manual

In the manual embodiment, a user is responsible for designating therelative rendering ranking of avatars.

A modification to a Virtual Universe client allows residents of thatuniverse to denote other avatars' rendering importance. It is known forusers of a virtual universe to be able to select objects within thatuniverse. This is commonly done with an input device such as a mouse ora keyboard. Also known is for an input combination to display to theuser a “context” menu for said selected object. The “context” menucommonly displays actions appropriate for the selected item. The presentinvention modifies the “context” menu of a virtual universe userinterface adding an action to allow a ranking of rendering importancefor each avatar. Those skilled in the art will note that many possiblevariations and combinations exist to select an object and to request anaction be performed upon the object. Additionally, the selection ofavatars and subsequent selection of rendering importance is appliedsimultaneously across multiple avatars within a visible region.

Embodiments of the present invention may differ in the number ofdistinct rendering importance levels or rankings. Exemplified herein isa sample embodiment that contains three levels. Level one denotesavatars to always render (and usually with high quality), level twoconsists of “normal avatars,” and level three denotes “extraneous”avatars. The rendering ranking for each avatar is stored as metadataassociated with the avatar UUID and is made to persist in a non-volatiledatabase. On the other hand, the selections may be ephemeral, resettingover time or upon user log-off. In another embodiment, the user maychoose an avatar's rendering ranking using the UUIDs of the avatarswithout the use of a graphical interface.

Automatic

In the automatic embodiment, the client software is responsible fordesignating the rendering importance of avatars, with little or no userguidance.

As in the manual method described above, distinct rendering importancelevels exist for avatars within the virtual universe. It should benoted, that while it is impractical for the manual method to make use ofa large number of levels, the automated methods provides morefine-grained rendering levels, or rankings, of other avatars within theVU.

Ranking Methods: The following ranking methods are exemplary in natureand many other potential ranking methods are possible without deviatingfrom the scope of the present invention. The ranking methods are usablein combination with each other and each type of ranking may have greateror lesser influence on the ranking, depending on the embodiment.

Avatar Interactions: If two or more avatars are involved in a chatsession, the avatars involved in the chat session may be assigned ahigher rendering ranking when compared with other avatars. Additionally,other interactions such as waving or handing a virtual document toanother avatar should result in those avatars having a higher renderingranking. Interaction ranking may also contain a temporal component, suchthat, recent interactions are ranked higher than previous interactions.

Inventory Similarities: If avatars have overlapping inventory items,there is a potential for those avatars to be interested in each otherand therefore should have a higher rendering ranking than those whocontain divergent inventory items. The percentage of overlap may be afactor in determining rendering ranking based on inventory similarity.For example, those with a 75% overlapping inventory should be rankedhigher than those with a 12% overlapping inventory.

Business Transaction Detection: If it is determined that an avatar isinvolved in a business transaction with another avatar, those avatarsshould receive a higher rendering ranking than other avatars. Businesstransaction detection is achievable through parsing chat text, locationwithin a VU (a region zoned for business), or engagement of an intra-VUfund transaction. Transaction ranking may also contain a temporalcomponent, such that recent interactions are ranked higher than lessrecent interactions. It is also noted that the present model and processprovides the ability to prevent select advertisements from having theirrendering quality overridden, such as those supplied from platinum orgold level sponsors. Such ads may, for example, appear on billboardswithin the VU.

Company Hierarchy: Some embodiments may have access to a companydirectory which contains the company hierarchy. In such embodiments,those within a user's management chain and within his group, department,line of business, or unit should be given a higher ranking than otheravatars within the company.

It should be noted that the above methods, manual and automated, mightbe used independently or in conjunction with each other.

Computational Load Reduction

This component uses the rendering rankings computed by the AvatarRendering Ranking Component to reduce computational load on the client.

Invocation: Several potential methods exist for invoking thecomputational load reduction component.

Manual Invocation: Manual invocation occurs at the request of the userwho is typically in control of many aspects of the virtual universe (VU)client. For example, the user is using his PC that runs the VU client.The user may choose to engage the system application for any reason,including but not limited to: observation of system slowdown, preferencefor enhanced performance, the need to be undistracted by unimportantavatars, the need to find important avatars or avatars of interest, etc.System invocation may take many forms known in the art of user interfacedesign. Some potential invocations methods include: selecting an icon,activation with a keyboard hot key, selection from a menu, voiceinstructions, mouse pointing, etc.

Constant Invocation/Manual Deactivation: Some embodiments may enable theload reduction system by default. In such embodiments the system isalways engaged. Furthermore, a subset of these embodiments may providethe user with a manual deactivation method to disable the system

Load-based invocation: More complex embodiments may engage the loadreduction system by measuring the computational load on the clientsystem. Such embodiments periodically poll the client system to obtainmetrics describing the current system load. Load can include suchfactors as system memory usage, page faults, graphic memory usage andCPU statistics including run queue length, wait queue length, systemqueue length, etc. The previous are examples and many substitute metricsmay be used without deviating from the core idea of the presentinvention. Note that predicted load and usage may be also be considered.For example, if usage trends indicate that in 15 minutes the VU will bevery slow, engagement of the system may take place.

Load Reduction

Upon invocation, steps are taken to reduce the computational load on theclient for rendering the virtual universe. Several example methods forreducing computational load are described below.

Polygon/Triangle Reduction: To reduce computational load on either theCPU (Central Processing Unit) or GPU (Graphical Processing Unit) theclient may reduce the number of polygons required to render an avatar.In 3D rendering, polygons and triangles are the primitive objects whichmake up complex 3D objects such as avatars. Reducing the number ofpolygons and triangles for an avatar reduces the load on the systemduring the graphical rendering process called rasterisation.Rasterisation is well known in the art of 3D rendering and is the methodused by virtually all current GPUs to create realistic images. Simplecalculations may be performed in real time to reduce the number ofpolygons that are required for each animated frame within a virtualuniverse. These calculations replace many smaller polygons and triangleswith larger such primitives. Reducing primitives results in a lowerquality and less realistic rendering. It is also possible to use zeropolygons and simply render the avatars as line segments.

Frame Rate Reduction: A second method to reduce load is to modify theframe rate for rendering individual avatars within a virtual universe.As with movies and television, smooth motion within a virtual universeis an illusion created by rapidly changing static images. Another termfor these static images is rendered frames. Each avatar within eachframe takes computational load to render. If the number of times anavatar was rendered per time period was reduced, the computational loadwould likewise be reduced. In such systems the last previously renderedavatar image would be cached and used for subsequent frames. Such areduction may result in avatars having jerky movement throughout thevirtual universe.

Texture/Lighting Elision: A third optimization method is the eliminationof texturing mapping and lighting calculations for individual avatarswithin a virtual universe. Texture mapping is the process of applying aflat texture stored in image format to a three dimensional shape.Texture mapping is a computationally intensive process and eliminatingthis process reduces load on the client. Without textures, the avatarsmay be rendered in a “wireframe” format. Other embodiments may displayavatars without textures as primitives (cones, cubes, tubes, etc) assolid textures. A second optimization that may be used with or withouttexture elision is to eliminate lighting calculations from avatarrendering. Lighting calculations are computationally intensiveoperations that modify the brightness, shading and other visualcharacteristics of an object by realistically simulating how light(directional and omnidirectional) affects an object. Removing lighting(and the time and resource consuming calculations associated therewith)results in less realistic avatar representations. The number of lightingsources are reduced or even eliminated as one method for controlling therequirements for controlling avatar rendition. Furthermore, while focusherein has been directed to reducing avatar detail, more generally it isdirected also to methods for controlling avatar rendition.

Avatar Elision: Another optimization method is the elimination of anavatar which would otherwise be rendered within a scene. This methodtypically saves more computational resources than any previouslydescribed method.

It should be noted that the above methods are usable independently or inconjunction with each other. The combination of methods to use and thelevel of reduction within each method is dependent on the rankingsprovided by the previously described ranking component.

It is noted that aggregate ranking information is desirable for use byadvertisers. Those avatars with a high rendering ranking may becandidates to have advertising information (logos, teleport invitations,etc) as part of their avatar rendering. While this disclosure focuses onavatars, the methods and systems of the present inventions are equallyapplicable to other rendered objects within a virtual universe.

In yet another embodiment, the present invention provides a businessmethod that performs the process steps of the invention on asubscription, advertising, and/or fee basis. That is, a serviceprovider, such as a Solution Integrator, offers to provide both manualand automatic avatar (or object) rendering under selective control ofthe user as to its use and the parameters employed to carry out avatarrendering. In this case, the service provider creates, maintains,supports, etc., a computer infrastructure that performs the processsteps of the invention for one or more customers. In return, the serviceprovider receives payment from the customer(s) under a subscriptionand/or fee agreement and/or the service provider receives payment fromthe sale of advertising content to one or more third parties.

FIG. 2 illustrate the two basic steps employed in the present invention:(step 201) capturing user ranking with respect to at least one avatar;and (step 202) dynamically rendering at least one avatar in accordancewith the captured user ranking.

In any event an end user environment in which the present inventionoperates is shown in FIG. 3. The present invention operates through adata processing environment which effectively includes one or more ofthe computer elements shown in FIG. 3. While FIG. 3 is more suited forillustrating an end user environment, it is noted that a similar, albeittypically much larger, data processing system is connected via theInternet to the local environment depicted. In particular, a similarnon-volatile memory 540 is typically present at the server end tocontain program instructions for carrying out the virtual realityprogram which are loaded into a corresponding main memory 510 forexecution. Turning to a local focus, computer 500 includes centralprocessing unit (CPU) 520 which accesses programs and data stored withinrandom access memory 510. Memory 510 is typically volatile in nature andaccordingly such systems are provided with nonvolatile memory typicallyin the form of rotatable magnetic memory 540. While memory 540 ispreferably a nonvolatile magnetic device, other media may be employed.CPU 530 communicates with users at consoles such as terminal 550 throughInput/Output unit 530. Terminal 550 is typically one of many, if notthousands, of consoles in communication with computer 500 through one ormore I/O unit 530. In particular, console unit 550 is shown as havingincluded therein device 560 for reading medium of one or more types suchas CD-ROM 600 shown in FIG. 4. Media 600, an example of which is shownin FIG. 4, comprises any convenient device including, but not limitedto, magnetic media, optical storage devices and chips such as flashmemory devices or so-called thumb drives. Disk 600 also represents amore generic distribution medium in the form of electrical signals usedto transmit data bits which represent codes for the instructionsdiscussed herein. While such transmitted signals may be ephemeral innature they still, nonetheless constitute a physical medium carrying thecoded instruction bits and are intended for permanent capture at thesignal's destination or destinations.

While the invention has been described in detail herein in accordancewith certain preferred embodiments thereof, many modifications andchanges therein may be effected by those skilled in the art.Accordingly, it is intended by the appended claims to cover all suchmodifications and changes as fall within the true spirit and scope ofthe invention.

What is claimed is:
 1. A method for rendering avatars in a virtualuniverse environment, said method comprising: capturing user ranking ofat least one avatar, the user ranking indicating a level of importancein graphically rendering the at least one avatar for a user of thevirtual universe environment, the level of importance being indicativeof a rendering quality at which the at least one avatar is to begraphically rendered, and the user ranking being selected automaticallybased at least partially upon interaction between the at least oneavatar and another avatar within the virtual universe environment,wherein the user ranking is specific to graphically rendering the atleast one avatar for that user and is distinct from user ranking forgraphically rendering the at least one avatar for another user of thevirtual universe environment, wherein the user ranking incorporates atemporal consideration in which user ranking for the at least one avatardecreases over a duration of time based on time since last interactionwith the another avatar, wherein the at least on avatar is graphicallyrendered over the duration of time and the user ranking of the at leaston avatar decreases, and the at least one avatar is rendered in lowerquality, over the duration of time; and dynamically rendering, by aprocessor, said at least one avatar in accordance with said userranking.
 2. The method of claim 1 in which said ranking is selectedautomatically based further upon a hierarchical status of the userwithin a hierarchy of a company of employment of the user, whereinranking of avatars of individuals within a same group of the company,department of the company, line of business of the company, or unit ofthe company as the user is higher than ranking of avatars of otherindividuals in the company.
 3. The method of claim 1 in which saidcapturing is carried out both from ranking selection provided directlyby an avatar owner and indirectly from ranking influencing data providedby said owner.
 4. The method of claim 3 in which said rankinginfluencing data is selected from the group consisting of avatarinteraction, business transaction and company hierarchy.
 5. The methodof claim 1, wherein computational load on the system is measuredperiodically and the dynamically rendering is invoked automaticallybased on the periodic measurement of the computational load.
 6. Themethod of claim 5, wherein the dynamically rendering is invokedautomatically based on trend in usage of the virtual universeenvironment client on the system indicating that a speed of execution ofthe virtual universe environment client after a predetermined a mount oftime is predicted to be undesirably slow.
 7. The method of claim 1 inwhich said rendering in accordance with the user ranking comprises atleast one of: reducing a number of polygons used to render said at leastone avatar, reducing frame rate for said at least one avatar,eliminating at least a portion of texture mapping applied to said atleast one avatar, employing flat textures, displaying said at least oneavatar in wireframe format, or displaying said at least one avatarwithout one or more light sources being present.
 8. The method of claim1 in which said rendering in accordance with the user ranking compriseseliding said at least one avatar which would otherwise be renderedwithin a scene, wherein the eliding entirely eliminates the at least oneavatar from being rendered within the scene.
 9. The method of claim 1,wherein the dynamically rendering is activated in response to at leaston of: observation of system slowdown, preference for enhancedperformance, a need to be undistracted by unimportant avatars, a desireto find important avatars, or desire to find avatars of interest. 10.The method of claim 1, wherein the dynamically rendering is activatedmanually by a user via at least one of: selection of an icon, orselection from a menu.
 11. The method claim 1, wherein the dynamicallyrendering is activated manually by a user via at least one of:activating keyboard hot key, or voice instructions from the user. 12.The method of claim 1, wherein based on the at least one avatar having ahigher user ranking relative to user ranking of other avatars, thedynamically rendering the at least one avatar comprises providingadvertising information as part of the dynamic rendering of the at leastone avatar.
 13. The method of claim 1, wherein the interaction comprisesone or more of: the at least one avatar waving at the another avatar inthe virtual universe environment, or the another avatar waving at the atleast one avatar in the virtual universe environment.
 14. The method ofclaim
 1. wherein the interaction comprises involvement of the at leastone avatar and the another avatar in a business transaction with eachother, and wherein the method further comprises: detecting theinvolvement of the at least one avatar and the another avatar in thebusiness transaction, wherein the detecting is based on at least one of:parsing chat text, presence of the at least one avatar or the anotheravatar within a region of the virtual universe environment zoned forbusiness transactions, and engagement between the at least one avatarand the another avatar in an intra-virtual universe environment fundtransaction.
 15. The method of claim 1, wherein the at least one avatarcomprises multiple avatars graphically rendered within a visible regionof the virtual universe environment, wherein based on user input from apointing device, the graphically rendered multiple avatars are selectedwithin the visible region, and the user ranking is simultaneouslyapplied to graphically rendered multiple avatars within the visibleregion.
 16. A computer program product for rendering avatars in avirtual universe, the computer program product comprising: anon-transitory storage medium readable by a processor and storinginstructions for execution by the processor to perform: capturing userranking of at least one avatar, the user ranking indicating a level ofimportance in graphically rendering the at least one avatar for a userof the virtual universe environment, the lever of importance beingindicative of a rendering quality at which the at least one avatar is tobe graphically rendered, and the user ranking being selectedautomatically based at least partially upon interaction between the atleast one avatar and another avatar within the virtual universeenvironment, wherein the user ranking is specific to graphicallyrendering the at least one avatar for that user and is distinct fromuser ranking for graphically rendering the at least one avatar foranother user of the virtual universe environment, wherein the userranking incorporates a temporal consideration in which user ranking forthe at least one avatar decreases over a duration of time based on timesince last interaction with another avatar, wherein the at least oneavatar is graphically rendered over the duration of time and the userranking of the at least one avatar decreases, and the at least oneavatar is rendered in lower quality, over the duration of time; anddynamically rendering said at least one avatar in accordance with saiduser ranking.
 17. A data processing system comprising: a memory; and aprocessor in communications with the memory, wherein the data processingsystem is configured to perform a method that includes: capturing userranking of at least one avatar, the user ranking indicating a level ofimportance in graphically rendering the at least one avatar for a userof the virtual universe environment, the level of importance beingindicative of a rendering quality at which the at least one avatar is tobe graphically rendered, and the user ranking being selectedautomatically based at least partially upon interaction between the atleast one avatar and another avatar within the virtual universeenvironment, wherein the user ranking is specific to graphicallyrendering the at least one avatar for that user and is distinct fromuser ranking for graphically rendering the at least one avatar foranother user of the virtual universe environment, wherein the userranking incorporates a temporal consideration in which user ranking forthe at least one avatar decreases over a duration of time based on timesince last interaction with the another avatar, wherein the at least oneavatar is graphically rendered over the duration of time and the userranking of the at least one avatar decreases, and the at least oneavatar is rendered in lower quality, over the duration of time; anddynamically rendering said at least one avatar in accordance with saiduser ranking.